Cuti Raya Haji

Selamat hari raya Haji kengkawan....

I went back to Perak as usual... Actually didn't plan to go pun but then received news that my uncle was warded at the hospital, so mau tak mau I had to go.. Sayang kat pakcik kan..

Don't know why I was sooo ralat to go. Until the very last minute I was ho-humming about going. My family actually booked rooms at the Impiana but I was so reluctant to do so.. I only asked CY to book my room like 10 minutes before we actually left. Nasib baik masih ada bilik.

So we went and visited my cousin who just gave birth.. like 3 months ago... Then checked in the hotel, feelings of trepidation still lingered. I was trying to understand what was the problem and could only blame it on my workload, things that I absolutely have to submit Monday.

I slept... I seemed to be doing a lot of that lately, then we visited our uncle at home. He was discharged the day before. We left around 10, made sure the kids were okay with their Tok in the rooms and then the 5 of us went to watch Sinister at Ipoh Parade.

If you love horror movies, this is definitely for you. If you are like me yang takut tapi mau therefore spent the whole movie burying my face on Kamil's shoulder, well... don't because it is scary indeed.  Very, very disturbing really and rasa sungguh menyesal for going. The wayang itself was very busy indeed. People kept nipping off to the loo or somewhere. Some came back, some didn't. One guy who walked out of the wayang while shielding his face from the screen definitely didn't... heheh. People screamed and the guy next to Kamil were very determined to concentrate on his phone instead of the screen.

Next morning we went back to our uncle's house and left for home at about 2. Sampai rumah dalam pukul 4 and I was presented with the reason why I was so reluctant to go, why hati aku tak sedap aje to leave home...

My orange boy, my Moggy was lying down lifeless next to his food bowl.

Kamil menjerit, Abang howled with grief. He kept calling his name over and over again, his face contorted with pain. Adik and I was luckily still near the car and didn't see him. Adik ran off to see for herself while I shrank back and pasted my self on to the car. It was such  a commotion sampaikan our next door neighbour came out to see what the hoopla was all about.

Kakak kata she noticed that Moggy wasn't eating when she came by in the morning to re-fill his bowl. She said his food was untouched. But she did give him fresh water. I forgot to ask if she actually saw him.

My orange boy dah keras but still untouched by the elements, ie ants and all so maksudnya he had just recently passed. If only we had come home sooner, maybe we would be around to comfort him during his last moments, seeing how much he loved us. Probably if we didn't stop for jambu at Tapah...

I asked Kakak to pinjamkan something we can use to korek a hole to bury him and as I gave my first hack, it started raining.

Typical drama cerita melayu. I cried and cried while I attempted to dig a hole big enough for my boy while Kamil was tasked to balut him with paper bag or something. Kamil came back wholly upset and unable to touch him in that state, unmoving and hard. It was excruciating for the whole family.

Therefore aku terpaksa call adik aku MJ to come and help us. He was upset, all my siblings and my parents were upset.

Oh boy....

Susah aku nak cerita lagi...

Nanti lah... Let me recover first...

Michael Bolton pulak

Last Saturday I went to KLCC, nengok Michael Bolton. Adalah sedikit gila kejap bila mamat tu keluar and start nyanyi. Sejibik macam kat radio kay. The concert was superb. I can't complain. Cuma... well dari dekat he looked a bit like Rod Stewart... hehehehhe.....

He was chatty, and told many stories which I think was nice. Jason Mraz although not as chatty as Michael, did say a few things. Yang langsung tak nak bercakap was Adam Levine... But I just have to forgive him sebab dia hensem Ya Rabbi.

Anyway, as I said the concert was superb. Yang tak superb ialah the audience. Sebab semuanya dah berumur, most of them nengok concert keras membatu. Susah nak nampak orang yang menari-nari in their seats apatah lagi actually jumping out to dance. Sebab aku dan Kamil yang dah biasa pegi concert bersama orang yang melompat-lompat, kami rasa sangat out of place sebab kami terpakasa tahan kan spring di kaki from working.

There were few people yang bising-bising but they were far from us. Kamil said next time, we should sit near them. Hehhehehe.....

Anyway hearing Michael singing brought so much memories. Especially when he sang "How am I supposed to live without you" where I suddenly found myself in my room, maybe about 15 looking out the window, taking a break from my homework that was in front of me.

Throughout the concert I felt like I was in high school again and sat lagi nak kena balik sebelum mak aku cari. Hehhehehe.....

Kamil and I held hands, and we sang and we beamed at each other and it was such a nice night. He was a wonderful singer.....

Anyway come Monday I was back at KLCC but this time for Internal Auditors' conference. Sigh..... I don't have to tell you that it wasn't Michael Bolton.... hahah.

So... who is coming next ?

Tengah seronok-seronok boleh tetiba jadi sedih pulak....

So pagi tadi Adik couldn’t find a clean, fresh kain for school. Kelam-kabut Bibik naik atas to search for it and finally she came out, kitted in a kain that is a tad too short.

“Saya pakai kain masa saya darjah satu…” She announced, standing next to me while I ironed my baju for the day.

“Darjah satu ?” I asked, very much annoyed at Bibik.

She must have thought my annoyance was directed at her because she said, “No, no…. Good for me, actually…” and promptly left.

Hehhehe… Good for her because she can still fit in her darjah satu clothes… Hehhehehehe….

Anyway yesterday a colleague received flowers for her birthday. One day early though as her birthday is actually today. After counting the stems, my boss scoffed that the guy is cheap for sending only a dozen roses. The romantic thing to do is, “to give the equivalent of her age…”

Wokey.

So I went home and told my husband what he said and korang tahu tak apa laki aku yang as romantic as Atilla the Hun tu cakap ?

“No… The most romantic thing to do would be tunggu kat bawah pagi-pagi and give one stem to each staff yang lalu for them to give to her…. SO bayangkan lah.. satu-satu datang bagi kat dia.....”

What a romantic idea ! I went awww… before,

“Wah wah wah… banyak you punya idea romantic ye ? Apasal tak pernah buat kat I ?”

The cengkerik berbunyi for quite a while before he sheepishly said, “I do have a lot of ideas. Cuma I tak berani nak buat aje…..”

Rolling my eyes, I said, "No… I am just not pretty enough for you to do it for…. Kalau you kawin ngan orang cantik, mesti you buat……”

Oh… jadi kisah sedihlah pulak…

Sob sob.

Btw, even though she doesn’t read my blog, Happy Birthday to C, a gorgeous girl inside and out.

Of crossroads, ambik wuduk in nude, lucky tummy and I love yous

Please believe me when I say that I just do not have the opportunity to write, to those who care anyway. Hahah.

I am in such a dilemma right now. I am again at a same crossroad that I was at like 5 months before. However now I realised that my decision before was a huge mistake.

Well… I only realised it after my husband pointed it out to me. I of course bristled for a good measure at the suggestion that I made a mistake, but then no dignified protests made its way out of my mouth as …..well… he was right.

Believe it or not (again if you actually care), I am obedient. I may protest and object but at the end of the day if you are my boss, my parents, my husband (he will laugh at this), I will relent. Okay, I do have my moments where I actually tak dengar kata, and dating Kamil was one of that… Hmmm… come to think about it, I should have taken that as an excuse not to obey as that turned out all right, didn’t it, disobeying my parents’ no-boyfriends-while-you’re-in-school rule…. ? Okay.. right-ish… but okay lah kan… ?

Anyway, I followed the advice given by those who are more experienced than me and knowing they were doing so with my best interest at their hearts. And now this happened.  Please do not think that I am blaming them. No siree…. They wouldn’t know this would happen pun…. But I should have just followed my instincts and wants…

So now, I am trying to gather up the courage to change my decision.

But being Melayu, ketebalan kulit di muka is as important as happiness.

So….. Hmmm…..

Anyway hari tu I was praying and Adik was preparing to pray next to me. Up came Abang who called out, “Adik… sembahyang !” not knowing that Adik already beat him to it. When he saw her in her praying garb, he asked, “Dah ambik air sembahyang ke ?”

“Dah !” Came the irate reply.

“Bila ?” he challenged.

“Tadi, lepas mandi !” Dah hot dah… ni nak sembahyang ni, saaat lagi nak bersujud kat  Allah ni pun boleh naik angin lagi.

“Pakai tuala tak ? Kalau tak pakai tuala tak jadi…..” he cautioned and promptly left the room to prepare for his prayers.

“Dah lah ! Saya tahu lah !” Was the very incensed reply given to his retreating back. Abang answered with an, “Okay… okay….”.

Then, the little one took a quick jenguk from where she stood, tore off her telekung and quickly masuk toilet balik. The sounds of running water came next.

Hhehehehe…. I do not have to guess what she was doing there.

Kelmarin pulak Kamil expressed his wish for Swensen’s ice cream. I told him that if we are going then I wouldn’t be preparing any dinner. Their servings are huge and you either have dinner or ice-cream. Biasalah, he said he’ll think about it but never came back with a decision, so I took it upon me to make dinner. I made mee bandung which the kids had seconds.

Lepas tu barulah abang kita tu cakap, “Jom makan ice-cream ?” Adoi lah…

Nak marah kang kata derhaka. So, aku iya kan ajelah walaupun perut macam ada possibility nak pecah walaupun aku telan angin.

Tetapi nak tak nak aku kena makan jugak sebab if I did not partake any, Kamil akan merajuk sakan punya. With that in mind, as we walked to the car, I said to Adik, “Can we share a small one ? Mummy kenyang lah and I do not really want any….”

And minah yang tadi makan sikit punya banyak mee bandung cakap, “It’s okay… we can take a big one as I brought… (here she lifted up her top)…… my lucky tummy along…..”

Hehheheh……

Kesudahannya, Babah kena jugak habiskan dia punya….. Lucky tummy konon.

Btw, can I just say this ? When we were watching Maroon 5 that day, it was not me who actually shouted "I love you !" to Adam Levine. I repeat, it was not me, Adik or Abang......

Of Maroon 5 and new furniture

I had a great night Thursday, partying with Maroon 5. Took the kids along, as Adik loves Adam Levine. When buying the ticks, I gave her a choice of The Wanted or Maroon 5 and she looked at me with this horrified face, shocked that I even have to ask.

“I don’t like The Wanted….” Said she, frown on her face which I read as, “Duh…”.

The band was awesome. Only Adam Levine could make men prancing on the stage in a sleeveless t-shirt looked cool. Him aside, I truly love the songs. I know all of them, bar one…. Haha, and was having a wonderful night singing and dancing.

He is so sexy… Sigh…. Could never put Adam Levine aside apparently.

Anyway semalam the furniture sampai. The table is awesome. Made the kitchen prettier. I now though have a problem with the old table. We pushed it aside for the moment, so the kitchen is infinitely congested.

The transporters left my mom’s gorgeous new cabinet at ours and sementara tunggu my mom to pick it up, I pushed it to a wall at the dining area. Masalahnya, it is looking good there. When Kamil saw it, he nodded his head and said, biarlah dia kat situ…

Pulak. So  now I either have to buy my mom a new one or…….. hantar ajelah kat dia. Bukannya apa, I once heard a lady commented that rumah orang Melayu, selagi furniture tak berlaga dengan lutut tuan rumah takkan puas hati… Hehheh. With the cabinet there memang chances of berlaga dengan lutut memang rather high. So… better hantar ajelah to my mom.

But my mom had always commented betapa tak outstandingnya my living room because it looked so bare… Maybe I should move the piano elsewhere ? Or… replace it with a baby grand… Ha…. Kalau masih looking bare with a huge spanking piano in the middle of the room tak tahulah…

A baby grand is about RM30k though … Ummm... I think I could live with bare.

Nanti I tangkap gambar yek…

Another merepek galore... Sorry

When I was small, still in primary school, agak-agak masa nak balik aje aku selalu berangan apalah mak aku masak hari ni. Lagilah kalau terdengar bunyi lesung batu or the sound of deep frying ikan or ayam (my school was surrounded by houses on 2 sides so on a good day you could actually hear the going ons of the neighbourhood kitchen…), walau pukul 10 pagi pun aku boleh dah start berangan.

Sebab favourite aku sayur buncis goreng and gulai telur, I will be salivating about those two dishes when I actually was supposed to concentrate on my learnings.. hahah. Aku selalu terbayang-bayang how the sayur buncis glistened with oil…. Or the deep yellow colour of the gulai. And I swear, sometimes I could smell it.

Even sekarang pun, kalau aku dengar lah bunyi lesung atau bunyi aktiviti menggoreng ikan, I will feel so right at home. So nostalgic, so safe. And aku masih akan wonder, apa mak aku masak hari ni, walaupun sebenarnya aku kena wonder apa yang aku nak masak instead.

Kadang-kadang aku rasa aku lebih anak dari emak. When segala-galanya aku masih nak mengadu dengan mak aku, masih aku nak dengar nasihat atau cadangan mak aku. Masih nak mak aku jugak bertanggungjawab dalam segala decisions that I have to make in my adult life.

When I was offered a job in KL 2-3 months ago, after at length bercakap dengan Kamil, akhirnya my mom’s two cents worth what helped me made my decision.

Specialnya jadi mak, ni kan ?

Anyway last weekend aku busy gila. Ke sana ke mari tapi I still had the time tu temankan adik aku shopping furniture. Tunggu punya tunggu dia orang datang, I suddenly heard the roar of my BIL’s Harley. Aku pun heran sebab I thought dia nak tinggalkan anak and maid dia at my house with my own maid and kids, so camno dia orang berempat naik motor dak ?

Sekali bila aku bukak gate tengok BIL aku aje atas motor, adik aku tambah 2 lagi adik aku, 1 nephew and 1 niece plus mak aku dalam kete.

Ya Rabbi, ramainya. Hehhehehe……

Kebetulan Kamil had to go out sekejap to buy lunch for his parents so everybody came in and aku jamu dia orang my chocolate cake. Aku suruh jugak mak aku rasa the freshly made green curry which my mom polished off with a slice of bread. Then with 2 cars and 1 Harley, we all headed to the furniture store.

Yang nak belinya orang yang nak pindah rumah tu, tapi yang beli dining table and a gorgeous book shelf was me. Hehhehe… Then aku tengok mak aku dok belek-belek one very nice, very oommpphhh cabinet and baru aku nak offer bayarkan, my other adik offered to pay.

Sebek jugak aku tengok adik aku yang baru kerja tahu nak belanja mak. Mahal jugak cabinet tu… Mak aku memang taste dasyat dalam hal-hal furniture ni…

After that kami beramai-ramai makan kat restaurant favourite our mom. Seperti biasa Kamil went to settle the bill tapi kali ni adik and BIL aku berebut nak bayar sekali. Believe it or not, itu sangat penting untuk aku.

I have to say I love all my in-laws. Masuk aje keluarga kami, aku automatic akan sayang. And bila dia orang suka nak belanja mak aku, and termasuklah kami adik-beradik yang reramai ni, aku rasa lega sebab in a way, that shows that they do not mind us. Bukannya senang nak suruh orang belanja kan ?

Hehhe… kasih sayang diukur dengan kerelaan belanja makan….

 Apalah aku merepek ni….

Btw aku sangat-sangat tak sabar tunggu meja makan aku sampai Khamis ni…. Kamil always complained that our table in the kitchen tak cantik. And sekali bila jumpa yang cantik dia terus ambik. Aku risau jugak sebab it is not just going to be a dining table. It has to serve as my working table too, where aku karate tepung and water to become bread and pastries, where aku campak hot baking trays just out from the oven. I hope the new gorgeous table is also very durable and able to absorb all the assaults the cheap table endured.

Where will I put the old, green table ? Entah… Kamil has to figure that one out sebab dia yang beria nak beli. But saying that, the table is uber gorgeous and aku tak sabar !!! I’ll take the pics, okay ?

Selfish mum

Semalam Kamil ada Raya Open House at his office so as usual whenever Kamil tak da, we will take the opportunity to dine at a restaurant that he doesn’t like but we do.

Anak-anak was jumping and begging to go to Sushi tapi mak ni tak larat. Sangat-sangat tak larat so I proposed Asiari. Sian dia orang, they didn’t like it very much tapi sebab mak mintak sambil tercungap-cungap kan… hehehhe..

So we went there and to compensate for their obedience, I allowed them to order chicken chop. After that we went to MPH to shop for books and then home. The wind was blowing hard yesterday so we opened up the windows to feel the wind. It was so much fun.

Anyway inside the car Abang who sat next to me commented that the Aptitude Test was easy. I told him that there is no right or wrong in Aptitude Tests. It serves to gauge your competency, your way of thinking and, “if you fall within a certain criteria, they will offer you a place in boarding school…” Agaknya lah. Aku pun tak sure.

Then from behind we heard a soft cry followed by “I hope you get all Cs in your UPSR, Abang !”. “Adik !!” jerit Abangnya and aku-aku sekali.

“Well… I don’t want Abang to go to boarding school…” she said meekly.

Hehheheh….. Oh, sayang Abang rupanya.

“Adik…. I can always decline lah….” Abang said hotly.

After a short pause though, he asked me worriedly, “I can always decline, kan Mummy ?” Heheh.

Risau jugak kau yek.

Well… although as much as I would love to send my son to a boarding school to toughen it up, I realize that my time with him fully is very short. Lepas ni his time will be dominated by his friends, then girlfriends, then wife… then kids…. For him to be truly mine, where I am the best thing that ever happened to him, where he couldn’t think of a world without me is running short. Where he is just a son to me and no other titles….

So selfishly, I won’t be sending him to any boarding schools. His place is with me where I need him to be just my little boy for a bit longer……

Kids say the darnest things

Semalam my mimpi was very, very disturbing.  It was like mimpi dalam mimpi. And I sort of woke up 3 times only to discover that I was still in that dream. I mean how cruel and distorted is that ?

Semalam Abang had his first UPSR paper. Mak dia yang tak sabar-sabar tanya khabar, called him right after he arrived home. Jawapannya of course le ‘I can answer everything….”

“Well… except that Pemahaman was really hard. Semua orang pun cakap sangat susah….”

Oh no, was my reply. I know, I should have been more supportive but please believe me when I said that it came out automatically. If it didn’t escape my lips, I would have said something in the nature of, “Aww… it’s okay darling, as long as you have done your best…..”

Yeah….

Anyway, after my very much accidental “Oh no..”, he quickly replied with, “It’s okay Mummy. Nanti saya doa lah banyak-banyak. Nanti Allah mesti tukar saya punya B jadi A……”

The laugh that came out was definitely not planned. It accidentally escaped my belly, throat and then my lips.

Adik pulak… well…..her.. I have a lot to tell.

Scene 1 : Argument on scrap book

One day came the decree from school that Adik has to produce a scrap book for a project. I have no idea what one looks like and after merayau MPH dengan Kamil, we couldn’t decide whether lines on the pages are accepted. So we fetched her from mengaji and took her to an independent book store in Sek 9. Kat situ they very much cater for school children therefore sebut aje scrap book, they know what kind the school curriculum required.

Ada yang dah siap bind, ada yang loose paper with the comb binder in it, ada yang all white coloured papers and there are some that came with rainbow coloured ones (and no lines, people !!). She of course chose the one with myriad of colours but she also took the un-binded one, the one with the comb binder blissfully unattached to the papers.

“Dik, I think you should take the one yang dah bind…”

“No… I want this one…” She said.

The more I insisted that she wouldn’t be able to bind the pages herself, the more adamant she is that she could. And then she said, “I can do this. Just you watch me, okay ?”

Mak oiii…. Terkejutnya aku. But I let her be….and warned her that if she couldn’t she would have to staple it instead which would not look nice and she would get a C. She just smiled knowingly and knowing she did because two days after that, she triumphantly waved the scrap book at me with the pages neatly binded.

Damn… Although, she did it terbalik so now the book would look very much at home in any Arab countries.

Ha ha. Tak dengar lagi cakap mak….

Scene 2 : Argument on the best way to buang kulit mata kucing

So there I was last night happily munching on just out of the fridge mata kucing while watching the telly and tiba-tiba came this little girl who wanted to share. Okay, no problem.

Her progress was slow as she could only manage 1 to my 5 so she had to ask for my help when the fruits were diminishing faster into my tummy and not hers. Beingthe good mother I am, showed her how to use her thumbs instead of her nails.  But alas it was still difficult for her. After a few tries and numerous coaching by me, she resorted back to her old way.

Aku jelling kat dia with raised eyeborws  and you know what she said ? The little minx said, “You use your own way, and I will use mine….”

Patut le bapak aku complain pasal mulut aku masa aku kecik-kecik…..

So … note to self : Must teach the little padawan to bite her tongue, or jenuh le kena kata ngan mak mertua nanti.

Adik's juicy story Part II

Hari ni anak aku sedang bertungkus-lumus menjawab soalan UPSR. Sian dia.

Many months Kamil and I chided him for watching the telly instead of mentelaah. We always say, Abang, you only need to do this for 12/9/6/3 months aje lagi. Lepas your exam you can go crazy. Tengok lah telly tu sampai ko fed-up , sampai pening.

We must have repeated that sentence over and over again sebab  last weekend I overhead Adik saying to Abang, “Abang… I think you should study.  UPSR dah nak dekat ni…. Lagi 3 hari aje… After this you can go crazy…”

Hehhehe….  And then she added, “If you want to run around like this pun boleh…” With that she covered her head with her shirt and ran around in circles, arms waving wildly up in the air, screaming.  Abang laughed delightedly. He laughed and laughed and laughed. And then made a request for an encore.

Hhehehe… Tak tahulah whether Adik genuinely wanted to remind Abang to study, or just want to make him laugh to ease his worries or… just want an excuse to goof around. I bet on the latter.

Anyway, selepas cerita budak hysteria (as aptly described by Kak Puteri) hari tu, the very next day I came home to a 9 year old that was more than ready to spill the most juiciest story ever.

“You must believe my story ! You must !” She literary jumped at me as soon as I opened the car door.

“Today ada TIGA orang kawan saya nampak HANTU dalam tandas !”

“Sorang tu gemuk, sorang tu Ketua Darjah and sorang tu jaga perpustakaan. Dia aje yang perempuan and dua lagi tu lelaki.”

“Dia orang cakap HANTU tu tengah duduk mencangkul ….(“By the way kan Mummy, Abang tak tahu maksud mencangkul tu….. “ Hai, sempat pulak ada selingan. “I do know maksud mencangkul !”, Abang hotly protested and proceeded to demonstrate. “It  means squatting, okay ?” said he. “Alah, you only knew after I told you !” Aku tengok aje budak-budak tu without saying anything because I was too tired… Nak gelak pun tak larat..)…

… Mata dia kan merah, kuku dia panjang, muka dia sangat hideous and dia pakai baju kurung. Tapi… I think she wore jubah lah and not baju kurung…”

And with the end of that sentence, she looked at me triumphantly. Aku diam.

“You must believe this story !” She said, jumping up and down. Why, I asked and she came up with the best argument there is, “Sebab ada 3 orang sekali nampak. Sorang tu pengawas. AND… they are my friends and NOT budak Darjah Satu !”

Hehehheheh……

Kah kah kah kah kah !

My argument while stemming my laughter was, “Kalau dia pakai baju kurung….” “Bukan, JUBAH !” She interjected. “Fine, jubah… Who made it for her ? There is actually a tailor yang berani buat jubah untuk hantu ?”

She at least had the decency to ponder on my questions.

Weekend ramblings

I can't believe it that it is already Sunday night and 10 pm at that. Aku rasa macam baru sat tadi aje aku balik office. Sigh.....

Saturday was busy with juggling kenduri kawin and open houses  with the kids school and classes. I really had no idea planning can be tiring. Today we had a wedding in Seremban to go to tapi terpaksa di cancel as Abang is sitting for his UPSR Tuesday so I really want him to use the time for last minute revisions.

Please do not ask about his preparation. It'll just cause unnecessary panic which could turn to serious hyper-ventilation. To me. Him ? He is just fine. Don't believe it ask my friend Noreen who came to visit for spot of tea and gossips just now.

Because we want Abang to sit at home, so I had to cook lunch and dinner. I had wanted to bake really. New recipes to try but the thought of going out to buy butter....... Forgotten to get some when we did our grocery shopping Saturday.

So... sangat tak interesting cerita ku.

What is interesting is that I went to Kak Puteri's house and we lamented on the day I went to her house to get air penawar for my serious bout of pening-pening and muntah-muntah while pregnant. The only problem is we had really different versions of that visit. I remembered going with arwah Shera and she said no, I actually came with Kamil.

I vividly remember standing at the gate talking to her with Shera next to me. In the dark because it was night time. She said malam is correct but Shera wasn't there. Hmmm... to get Shera to confirm pun tak boleh... Sigh...... Please don't cry....

Aku dok asyik pening sekarang. No, not the usual reason but I think because it is a symptom of menstruation. I have been noticing that a few days before I start my cycle, I mesti mabuk. Many months I excitedly took tests only to be disappointed like a week or 2 after that.

Sigh....

By the way, we are planning our next holiday. Am sooo excited !!!

How far is her story accurate ?

My daughter came home with the most ridiculous story ever ! Actually, I came home to hear the most ridiculous story ever from my daughter.

Apa-apa pun, the story went like this.

Ada budak dalam kelas 4XX pengsan. Dia ni ada masalah sikit sebab dia ingat semua orang tak suka dia. So hari ni dia bawak pisau lepas tu dia menjerit-jerit lepas tu she wants to stab herself.

She ran away with the knife and her friends kejar dia and they all kepung dia and she was screaming AAAAHHAHAHAHARARRRRRGGHHH !

Lepas tu kan dia pengsan.

Hmm… said I. After slowly putting my face back to its normal position (ie no raised eyebrows, forehead, nostrils etc…), the questions came.

Awatnya cikgu dia bagi dia lari pegang pisau ? Lepas tu macamana cikgu tu boleh biaqkan budak-budak yang kejaq dia ?

Iya, Mummy. I saw her. And I heard the screamings, said she.

Okay, did you actually see the pisau ?

Err… saya Nampak benda macam hitamlah dia pegang. Lepas tu kan, dia orang cakap that dia pun macam susah hati sebab mak bapak dia saman dia.

Tang tu aku dah gelak dah.

Merepek, I said. How do you know all this ?

Ada budak darjah satu bagitahu saya.

Hmm… cerita budak darjah satu ko dengar memang lah ntah apa-apa.

Bila dia cerita dekat Babah dia pagi ni, as expected he went “Isshhh…. Merepeklah…” while shaking his head at me.

Hehehhehehe……

The wonders of being small. Drama sungguh ! Hari-hari ada aje mak bapak yang terkebil mata.

Anyway semalam aku puasa. Lapar sangat. Kebetulan Kamil won't be coming back for dinner on account of a spot of badminton with his work buddies and Abang ada tuition class. So aku dok pikir what is the best solution to feed everybody and I don't know why the brilliant idea that came to mind was to cook.

Sampai aje rumah I thawed the beef bones... heheh tulang. I was thinking nak buat rendang Terengganu as per Chef Wan's recipe tapi bila teringat banyak benar aku kena blend, terus tak jadi. I filled a deep pot with water and plonked the still hard beef in it.

Korek-korek fridge tengok ada a very manky kobis and I fried them with frozen prawns. My temp maid leka iron baju, malas nak panggil. Luckily, the rice cooker clicked ready as I poured teh bunga in iced filled glass and azan pun berkumandang. While Adik set the table, I tasted the dishes (tambah garam all over) and makan.

The beef was not that soft though as I only cooked them for an hour as oppose to 2 hours at least but my children had second helpings. Sian, asyik makan luar aje...

Anyway, sebab cemburu buta dengan Konot yang has now delightfully changed her title from working mom to stay at home mom, I pestered Kamil when would be my turn.

Without hesitation he said 2 years. And aku adalah sangat terkejut as it means that he has been thinking about it too.

But.... "You must find what to do with all that time you have... Knowing you, mesti sekejap dah boring..." Err.... hehehhe.... Betul, betul....

So maybe, either aku masak and makan sendiri or aku masak and paksa orang beli or... aku ajar orang masak and soh dia orang bayar....

Hmmm.......

Nothing interesting... maybe..

So… I have nothing interesting to write about.

Abang passed his piano exams though. So yeay … but still rather boring.

I had my small raya gathering do last Saturday. Small really as I like doing mine in batches.  So that I could have leisure time talking and socializing. Not busy running around making sure food is replenished and having too many people to talk to so I only have snippets of conversation with each of my guests.

I served nasi lemak and rendang and ketupat too. Pies as usual. I got clever this time as I baked my pies in small sizes so it doesn’t dry out when the next batch of guests came. Only problem is the guests came in steady stream thus the pies did not have the time to dry out. Instead I have to keep nipping to the kitchen to bake them.

Nothing ever went to plan. The chocolate cake, the butter cuppies, the jelly custard pudding and the blondies went well, though.

Oh… okay. This might be interesting.

Yesterday a colleague approached me. Sapa tumpang kete ko tadi, she asked. Eh ? Nobody tumpang me today. Why you asked ?

“Well… sebab aku nampak orang tumpang ko tapi duduk belakang. Itu yang aku tanya tu. Apasal minah tu dok belakang ko ?”

Errkk .

Minah ?

Double errkkk .

As far as I know, aku pegi keje sengsorang tadi. I do carpool with a colleague but she is away this week.

So….

Interesing ke cerita ni ?

Yawn.. Have to plan for the next small raya do.

Ta-ra.

Post ketika mengantuk

I am so sleepy.

Bangun pagi-pagi tadi it was raining heavily. I felt like tarik selimut aje balik but of course I can't. Work beckoned.

Kamil couldn't go to work because his dad was poorly and had to be sent to the hospital. He was admitted and is sleeping over tonight at least. As usual whenever his dad is hospitalised, Kamil would not eat. Probably due to worry. So, for both of their sakes, I pray for Abah's health.

Work today was plenty. A-ha.. that is the word, plenty. And pelbagai. Ahahhaha. Yeah, I am surprised I could still laugh at times like this. Something transpired at the work place. Something that made me sad. But there is nothing I could do about it. I was surprised at the turn of events, though.

While Kamil was with his dad, the kids and I took the opportunity to dine on delicious Italian food. We were seated next to a group of mat sallehs...and Adik... started to speak in English accents. Saja je....

She started of with "Mummy.... can I have the steaks, please....." Only instead of saying steaks, she accidentally said stick... Hehhehe.... To her chargrin and Abang's delight, of course. The mat sallehs took her bait and looked at her and then me, curiously. Hehhehe.... Adik saja je....

She is really funny. And she makes me happy. Abang made me happy with his trial results. He got A in Penulisan which is something really rare. Let us hope he can do the same for the real exam.

I just realised, makin lama makin tak de cerita menarik that I can share..... Hmmmm....

Take care, darlings.

Raya ramblings

Selamat Hari Raya !!

And please do not think that I have forgotten this space... I have not. I have forgotten the password is all... Haha... Makcik dah tua ! Semuanya lupa....

Alhamdullilah after many dedicated tries, terjumpa lah jugak akhirnya the password yang selama hari ni hilang....

Puasa tahun ni was not that good. I was busy with work so I had to miss a lot of terawikhs.

Raya is also rather mediocre because I was bogged down with worry about work. Worry saja. Doing the actual work tidak jugak because I was busy. Ada aje rumah yang nak kena pergi and people who came to visit.

Today my BFF came with her sister and their children. Sungguh malu because I had nothing to serve but kuih raya. Tak sempat because I honoured an open house invite so I did not have the time to prepare anything for my own guests.

Tak boleh jadi ni. I vowed to at least simpan keaw tiaw (I seriously do not know how to spell this) dalam fridge. But... keaw tiaw yang disimpan di dalam fridge adalah sangat tak best sebab it hardens and doesn't fry very well.

Raya as I said was uneventful. Salam, makan, melawat. I have no idea how to spice things up a bit. Hehehhe..... What mengarut punya thinking.

Puasa tahun ni we didn't buka outside at all. Only once did we go for a buffet with IRM. The rest were taken at home. Oh yeah. I finally did something with my treacherous driveway. It is friendly and beautiful now. We also knocked down the pintu, tingkap and dinding at the kitchen to make one huge spanking door. And painted the wall light blue which was very nice.

Okay... I wish it was a bit lighter... the blue.... After the wall was painted Kamil looked at me, expecting me to complain. So as expected I did not do the expected and gushed my love towards the now light blue wall. I don't think Kamil bought it but I think he is very much relieved by the lack of drama.

He just doesn't know that I will attempt to re-paint it, fully expecting that he will do the majority of the work. He always does what is expected of him.

The kids are getting bigger. They infuriate me and make me happy at the same time, as kids are wont to do.

I am tired.

Ta-ra.

Her secret wish

Semalam Kamil had a farewell dinner so it was just me and Adik sending Abang and cousin Hasya to their tuition class.


And as usual, when there are the two of us, we will swing by our secret place to get Magnum Hazelnut for mummy and whatever that takes Adik’s fancy. Mummy thinks her arse is still nice and pert and small. Just let her have her moment, yeah ?

And also as usual when there are just the two of us, Adik will open up. I know she talks a lot but when it was just her and her mum, out will come all her thoughts that she secreted away.

And yesterday she talked about Mekah. “I miss Mekah, Mummy… Saya rindu dengan Kaabah….”

Hmm… macam dalam drama swasta. Felt like looking around for the cameras… hahaha.

“Dah tu nak pegi Mekah lagi tahun depan ? Tak jadi nak pegi London ?” She sighed.

“Saya nak pegi Mekah dengan Atuk… Tapi Atuk sakit…. Saya nak bawak Atuk pegi Mekah…”

And I kept quiet. I cannot say anything to that. I am sad for her. I think she feels that if only Atuk visited Kaabah, he will get better.

After thinking awhile, I know how to use her to turn things around for me. Devious, probably but I think it is actually an epiphany from Allah. You see, Kamil’s father adalah sangat tak mo makan ubat. I know the side effects are horrible. But, it is something that he has to do in order to get better. Berbuih lah mulut anak-anak pujuk and paksa makan ubat, but everytime pergi jumpa doctor, ada aje pills yang terlebih.

So…… I urged Adik to tell Atuk of her wish. Adik was reluctant because as I said, it is something that she chose only to share with me. And she had always been quite secretive of her inner-most thoughts. Aku bukan apa, I am hoping that if Adik tells his Atuk so, Atuk will be more disciplined about his medication. If not for him pun, for his cucu yang want him to feel better so that he can bangun and walk about. For his cucu yang nak bawak Atuk pegi Mekah.

So that he knows that we want him to take his pills to prolong his life. We want him around longer.

Sigh…..

Jason Mraz

So on Tuesday I went to see Jason Mraz.

And I have to say it was awesome.

Freaking awesome, actually... Hehheheh...

He sounded beautiful, his songs soothing and just the right kind for me. Although he invited all of us to stand and rock with him.. in BM nonetheless, but there is no need because the sight of him made all of us jumped out of our seats. Including le kakak ku yang ku sayang, kakak No Time Off... hehehhehe...

But his music are quite relaxed, and he was crooning more than rocking and it suits me just fine. It was really surreal to hear him sing live. He sounded just like in his CDs.

The funny part is when he commented on the late comers. He actually said, "Look at all these people still walking in..." hahha... Malaysians are never punctual, Jason darling... Not even for you...

I do have to say the opening act, Awi something something was good. The dude can sing live. I love his song yang Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday tu and that got me started really.

It was a marvellous concert. Listening to Jason Mraz, under the stars while holding Kamil's hand was nice. We stayed close to each other, swaying to the rhythmn...

Sigh......

Okay.. who is coming next ?

I am not dusty, apparently

Aku dah 2 hari kena train.... Kat Istana Hotel. Pepagi Kamil will send me and pepetang I will take the Monorail then the STAR to his office. Very convenient. I am proud of our rail system.

Anyway, one good thing and one bad thing happened. Good stuffs first, yeah ?

All my training mates thought I have not even reached 30 ! Hehehhe..... Even the trainer was shocked when I said I have 12 years working experience. Hhehhehe... A sweet boy called Chai said, "Wow... good maintenance..." bila aku habaq I have a 12 year old son and aku adalah kembang. Cuma I suspect that my zits helped give the impression that I am young. I mean who have ever heard of a zitty near 40 year olds ?

Yeah.. I am near forty. I myself can't quite believe that I am that old.

The bad thing ? People commented on what a good presenter I was. The trainer said I am CEO material.

Flattery ? Probably. I should be kembang, reall. But... I am more concerned about what Kamil perceived a good talker, cakap aje banyak tapi habuk tarak. And he had given a lot of examples, which some I should say I have to agree with.

So... I do not even have a speck of dust on my person ?

When I related that story to him, his smug face was freaking irritating. So bermaksud memang all these while he was actually talking about me ? That he has been insinuating that it was me and I missed it ?

Nak aje aku lempang sebijik.

Damn.

Anyway tengah melepak at Kamil's office sekarang. Bidding for the time to see JASON MRAZ !!! Hehehheheh....

Just now Kamil's Mat Salleh's boss came by to say hello to me. He said, "Enjoy the show, yeah ?" And belum sempat aku jawab, dia pegi cakap, "You are going with him ?" And aku telah buat kelakar bangsat by saying, "No.. I am going home. He is going alone...."

I don't think I will ever forget his shocked face. Hehhehehe.... After awhile baru dia macam berjaya tangkap my meaning and laughed. Relief is not an understatement at that time, kay ?

Note to self, jangan buat kelakar lagi....

The lampu kat luar and the katak

I was on MC yesterday. Actually I loathe to use the acronym MC because it means Medical Ceritifcate... so very tak kena. But takpa... Not important...

Kamil woke me up at about 4am to ask if he switched off the light at the stairs. His question washed all the grogginess away and I said yes because I remembered him yanking the door open to do so.

So both of us sat straight on the bed looking at the bright lit floor from the gap under the door. We tried to listen for sounds but there were none and we ho-hummed what to do next. I was 100% sure he switched off the lights and intruders aside, I reasoned it could be Abang sneaking down to watch Euro Cup. We all know how football mad he is.

Anyway after awhile eventhough we did not hear any suspicious sounds outside, Kamil got worried about his children so he decided to have a look. I dialled 999 and my thumb was ready to press 'call'. Armed with a belt, he opened the door slowly and after about 5 minutes he was back safe and sound, without any incident.

So the question is, did he or did he not switched off the lights ?

We debated that, and wondered and unfortunately failed to go back to sleep. At 6 we got up and roused the house and I went about the usual business with throbs in my head.

By the time I drove up until the mosque the throbs became unbearable so I turned back home, kicked off my shoes and tried to will the pain away...

I consumed a lot of panadols due to my frequent headaches therefore I am always very reluctant to take some. After awhile and I was really gonna succumb to the call of the pills, I decided to drive to the nearest reflexology centre and tried another method... which is drug free, to ease the pain.

It worked. The pain ebbed oh so slowly but at least it went away.

Anyway, the mystery of the light that was switched on still intrigued me. I was very sure that Kamil switched it off because I saw him. Asked Abang and he denied ever going down to watch football.

Hmmmm....... It happened to us one other time before. At a time when we used to hang motion sensors on our bedroom doorknobs. They are cute, really as they came in animal shapes complete with its sound. We hung a cat on Abang's door and frogs for both our room and Adik's. So if there are movements near the door, the sensor would go meow or a 'wibbit' in our case.

And one night the damn thing did go 'wibbit'. Melompatlah Kamil and I from the bed and we instantly pushed the sofa to block the door. We did not think we did not plan, both of us acted immediately.

Then we waited while praying for the safety of our children.

And nothing.

Nothing happened.

The frog didn't make anymore sound, there were no sounds from the outside. All was quiet and still as it should be at 3 am.

I remembered we fell asleep on the sofa still blocking the door and woke up in a fright because Adik wanted to come in and gave a loud knock.

So... why did the frog went 'wibbit' ? And who switched on the light ?

Hmmmmmmm.........

Of my ex-boss and meehoon

Today, on this very, very nice albeit an extremely hot morning, I would like to announce that I am truly grateful for my ex-boss, TSY.

Even though he has been rotated to other division, he is still taking care of us.. and still mentoring me. Still making sure I am able to cope. Still lending a hand.

And because of him, I can easily meet our numbers.

Alamak... rasa macam nak teriak lah pulak... Moving on...

I had the shock of my life yesterday. Read in the papers, an article on zits. Apparently not oily food nor nuts nor chocolates are the reasons for breakouts... Apart from stress, other contributing factors are white and wholemeal bread and....... wait for it... MEEHOON !!

I who meehon makes about 70% of my diet quickly ran to the loo to examine the detestable Kinabalu on the bridge of my nose which I have been valiantly trying to stem from turning into the Himalaya. 3 days of my life it took and now it looked stunted with crusty skin right on top. Then my eyes reverted right next to it where a Bukit Melawati is slowly growing and emitting angry red signals. When I say next, I do mean next. They are fighting for space, really.

Atas sikit ada dua lagi and just below my lip, one huge one too. Let us not talk about the tiny clusters on my upper lip.

And then I thought about my breakfast which was of course meehoon and I gagged.

Damn.

Pass me the nutty chocolates !!!

Masalah hari ini

Hmmmm.....

So......

I am not preggers. Yeah, why should I be if we are not trying... But we have.

Since Mecca.

Why the change of hearts ? Well maybe because my daughter doa dengan penuh kusyuk di Tanah Suci.

But then, Allah belum izinkan lagi. Maybe because I am old. And perasan fertile.

Haha...

No seriously...

Moving on to a less sombre topic (well.. a sombre one for me....)..

We are going to see Jason Mraz on the 19th so yeah ! Hehehhe... My last proper one was Alicia Keys and I am not counting Russel Peters as it was not a concert.

Russel Peters is a-okay. For some reason, a person spewing profanities on stage is funny. Don't get me wrong, I was laughing with the rest of them but when I look back, I laughed due to the bad words more than anything.

Probably.

So... hmmm....

I have started baking again. Well.. when did I stop ? Since Mecca actually. But last month I started rolling my sleeves again and slaved away on the hot stove... or oven. I made Chocolate Cake with sauce last weekend and it was heaven... Tetapi because my pan was not big enough, most of the sauce oozed out and we were left with very little amount of it.

So.... I had an extremely valid reason to purchase a new one. A huge spanking 2L one.. hahah... Kamil could not say anything to that because he too was busy scraping what was left of the sauce. So he must acknowledge the fact that I need a new baking dish. The red brick one at the Curve... about RM200. Or IKEA has nice ones too....

Adik is driving me crazy with her antics.

Abang is driving me crazy with his girth.

I went to the Doctor and after one look and one poke on my shoulder, he said I am stressed out. Why, he asked.

Errmmmm.... my son ?

And he said, well.. if it my son then he will do nothing as a boy who doesn't give problems is a problem...